Star Trek: William Shatner Reveals If He’d Return as Kirk for a New Series

In Star Trek Generations, William Shatner reprised his role as Capt. James T. Kirk one last time. Kirk teamed with Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard on a mission that ended with Kirk’s death. With Stewart soon to return as Picard, might Shatner consider returning as Kirk?

Shatner spoke to ComicBook.com ahead of his performance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Friday. We asked him about the idea of returning as Kirk for a series like the upcoming Picard show. The writers would have to come up with a way to resurrect the character. Shatner joked that they’d also need to find a way to resurrect him after each day of shooting.

“That word, ‘resurrect.’ That’s a key word,” Shatner says. “Resurrect. You’d have to resurrect me, Shatner, in order to do the daily [laughes] I don’t what Patrick is doing doing that. Doing a series is debilitating for a young guy, for a 25-year-old, which I was doing when I was 25 years old. It’s a physical wrecker, it’s a mental wrecker, and it’s a homewrecker ’cause you’re working 14, 18 hours a day. And in the last series I did, Boston Legal, I had, in rush hour, a two-hour commute. So add that.”

Shatner concluded by saying that he’s not interested in doing a series, but that doesn’t mean he’s done with television. He teased some upcoming announcements about more limited television engagements.

“So no, I would not be interested in doing a series, per se,” he says, “but I will be on the air in something this year in something I can’t tell you about right now, but you’ll hear about it soon, and maybe on two and maybe even three shows that’ll be on for 10, 12, 14 episodes.”

We already know that Shatner will be appearing on a Dungeons & Dragons-themed episode of The Big Bang Theory as part of the CBS sitcom’s final season. The episode reunites him with Kaley Cuoco, whom he worked with in Priceline commercials. She shared a behind-the-scenes photo with Shatner from the set of the episode. Shatner is just one big guest star in the episode. Others include Star Trek: The Next Generation star Wil Wheaton. You can see a photo of the full cast of the episode here.

Would you like to see Shatner return as Kirk in a new Star Trek show? Let us know in the comments!

Shatner’s new country album with Alabama’s Jeff Cook is Why Not Me, available now. The Big Bang Theory, now in its final 10 episodes, airs Thursdays on CBS. The new Picard series debuts in late 2019 on CBS All Access.